The Age of Ice
by avorialair
Summary: Ice sculptures are turning up from nowhere, looking suspiciously lifelike. The source of the problem: 14,000 years in the past. It’s up to the Doctor and Rose to embark on this icy adventure, figure out the mystery, and save the day. Ninth Doctor. [WIP]
1. Prologue

**Title**: _The Age of Ice_  
**Characters**: _Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler_  
**Basic summary**: _Ice sculptures are turning up from nowhere, looking suspiciously lifelike. The source of the problem: 14,000 years in the past. It's up to the Doctor and Rose to embark on this icy adventure, figure out the mystery, and save the day. NineRose._  
**Long summary**: _Something suspicious is happening in the UK of 2010. Strange ice sculptures are turning up from nowhere and they look suspiciously lifelike. The Doctor traces the source of the problem: 14,000 years in the past. It is Britain's last known ice-age, where its inhabitants still sew clothes out of deer hide. With Rose in tow, he sets about to find out just what's going on. What is the Strange Mist? Why is the weather unnaturally warm? Who is that keeps sending messages to his psychic paper that the TARDIS can't translate? If they don't find out soon, it could spell extinction for the human race.._.  
**Genre**: _Action/Adventure, Sci-fi, Mystery_  
**Rating**_: K+ (for language, possible suggestive themes, and general concept)_  
**Disclaimer**: _Not mine. Not mine at all. Aside from the totally bull science fiction, but I don't really want to take responsibility for that._  
**Author's Note**: _I got inspired to write this (shockingly) after being atop Snowdon. I do intend general shippyness between the Doctor and Rose, but it's not the main basis of this story (for once). I felt like an adventure whilst I wrote the horribly in-depth character study series! Also, this is un-betad. So please excuse any typos._

-I-

**The Age of Ice - Prologue**

Doctor Stephanie Mikane sighed and put down her clipboard. Every test showed the same result. They had been doing work on these sculptures for months now and – since the first revelation that yes, they were pure ice, yes, they never melted, and yes, they were over 10,000 years old – nothing new had been discovered. Every scan they ran pulled up the same results no matter what they tried. It was a mystery beyond any hypothesis they could come up with.

When Doctor Mikane had done her PhD in the Study of Natural Phenomena, she never even dreamed of anything like this.

With a frown set into her youthful features, she looked up at the sculpture. It had been found on a beach just off the coast of Scotland and had given a number of the tourists a shock. When this had first started to happen, people had been flabbergasted, even scared, but now it was almost like it was part of their every day lives.

Humans, Stephanie mused with a wry smile; how quickly they adapt.

This ice sculpture was a perfect replica, in every way, of a Greenland shark. The tiniest detail had been chiselled in so that there was no mistaking it. It was true to size, weight, history. Even its eyes seemed to hold expression.

There were many other sculptures now; so many that the research labs couldn't cope with the sheer number of them. As a result, a museum had been set up in London, where all the sculptures were stored. It was accessible to the public for a small fee, which in turn funded the research to try and find out the secret behind this strange mystery. It was, originally, a way of keeping track of the sculptures by keeping them all in one place; the fact it was open to the general public was simply to keep suspicions at bay.

Course, they had been fed some cock-and-bull story about a new form of ice that wouldn't melt, and a hidden sculptor who lived in the North. He was said to carve these creation, then export them to sea for the publicity. Stephanie didn't believe a word of it; but then, she was part of the research team, so she knew the real reason behind it.

Her colleagues, for the moment, were on their lunch break, but she had wanted to just finish things up here.

She let out a breath and got up from her desk. Pacing around the creature she took it all in. There wasn't a single imperfection. Not one. Which only fuelled her own suspicions: that this shark, once upon a time, had been living and breathing. The fact that it was purely made of ice and proved to be thousands of years old argued against her point. But this species of shark had not been evolved for thousands of years, either. It was a mystery shrouded in an enigma and wrapped in a secret.

Doctor Mikane slowed in her pacing as the noticed, for the first time, something peculiar on the sculpture. Frowning with confusion, she stepped up to the pedestal the icy glass was resting on. Through eyes that were due another appointment at the optician's she peered at the ice. There was no doubt about it – there was a crack woven into its side.

It was deep and prominent and, as Stephanie listened, she heard a chilling trickle as the crack grew before her eyes.

She stepped backwards in startled shock and reached for her radio. They couldn't lose this specimen: it was impossible to know when they would be allowed another.

"Problem in Research Lab," she spoke urgently into the black transmitter. "This is Doctor Stephanie Mikane, I request urgent backup."

No answer came.

She watched in horror as the cracks spread all the way over the sculpture. Then, at once, it fell to hundreds of thousands of pieces which scattered all over the floor. Stephanie let out an anguished cry of dismay. She stared in silent shock at the months' worth of work, now shattered over the floor. Then she noticed something and frowned. A strange mist was rising above the particles, like hazy blue steam. It thickened, convalescing not three feet away from her. She stared, gobsmacked.

A strange sort of hissing noise seemed to emanate off it and she began to reach reach for her radio again; but it made no difference. The next thing she knew, the mist was rushing towards her and everything was cold and dark.


	2. Break and Enter

**Chapter I – Break and Enter**

The Doctor grinned at Rose over the controls.

"Okay, this is going to be fantastic," he promised while cranking a lever down.

She grinned right back at him. These were the moments the loved – watching the Doctor play captain of his ship with a mad twinkle in his eye. Whenever he got that look, Rose just knew that they were up for an adventure outside those doors.

"Where we going?" she asked as the TARDIS started to vibrate around them.

He caught her eye. "Wait and see."

With feigned expertise the Doctor piloted his ship. He twiddle dials, flicked switches, ran his hand over what he insisted was the date generator, but looked suspiciously like a paperweight, and took great care to get them to their destination safely.

Upon instruction, Rose held a button down and spun the wheel which, apparently, set their speed in motion. The Doctor laughed with glee as the ship gave a violent shudder, and Rose was thrown from her feet.

The TARDIS stopped, its journey complete, and all was silent.

"You alright down there?" the Doctor asked with a slight frown.

"Fine, thanks," Rose muttered and he helped her to her feet. She often did end up on her bum when the Doctor went on a mad-cap navigating spree. She grinned at him."We all set?"

"As set as you like. You'll love it outside those doors."

She turned, excitement already pumping through her blood, and raced to the door. She truly loved this part. Beyond those doors was a world just waiting to be explored, and Rose knew that no matter what happened, she would love it unlike anywhere else they had been before. It was a talent of the Doctor's to take her places new and exciting every time.

He stood back with a smug smile and recounted the planet's description.

"It's got seas the colour of emerald and trees that look they're on fire," he said as Rose stood with anticipation before the doors. "And every night there's a festival with fireworks that make pictures in the sky."

Rose threw open the doors and sunlight streamed in. She stepped forward out into the new world...

...and into a busy square of London.

She looked around, blinking into the harsh sunlight. The Doctor's voice faded in as he grew closer to the doors.

"...and the Duchess – she's nice, you'll like her – makes sure that everyone... Oh."

Rose glanced back at him, biting her bottom lip and squinting into the light.

"This isn't right," the Doctor realised after a long moment. "This isn't Amphoras. This is _London_."

"Think you might have got the flight a bit wrong," Rose mumbled, sidling back up to him.

The Doctor frowned and put a hand on the doorframe of his ship, looking at it enquiringly.

"Ah," he said, turning to Rose again. "Think I've realised what's the problem."

She gave him an expectant look.

"The TARDIS. She, ah, interferes. Sometimes."

"What d'you mean 'interferes'?" Rose asked loudly, giving the ship a somewhat cold look.

"Well," the Doctor shrugged, "sometimes she thinks we need to be somewhere particular rather than where I've set."

Rose eyed him suspiciously. "And you're sure didn't, I dunno, put in the wrong codes? Spun that paperweight a bit too hard?"

"I'm perfectly sure. And that's not a paperweight, how many times do I have to tell you? Anyway, the TARDIS obviously wants us to be here, so we may as well settle down for the ride."

He stepped out onto the ground and pulled the door shut behind him, then surveyed their surrounding area.

"So, when are we?" Rose asked, realising that they were going thoroughly unnoticed in amongst the massive crowd. It really was strange that the general public ignored what was right in front of them. She smiled to herself.

"How should I know? Last I checked, we were on the way to Amphoras."

He was checking his pockets, probably looking for the usual devices he never left home without.

Rose turned, her eyes easing into the winter sunlight. Her breath made pale clouds in the air and she held back a shiver – she wished she had put something a little warmer on.

Then her eyes caught on something and she froze.

"Doctor... You said this was London, yeah?"

"Yeah," he answered without looking up.

Rose swallowed. "Well, it is. But with one very big difference."

"What?" He looked up and followed the direction of her gaze. His eyebrows rose in interested shock. "Oh. That difference."

Looming above and ahead of them was a building neither had seen before. Across its opening had been slung a banner: 'London's world-famous Ice Museum, affiliates of Torchwood Enterprises. See inside for details.'

The Doctor looked at Rose and gave her a manic grin.

"I smell trouble," he said, then took her hand and led her inside.

-I-

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let you into the exhibit if you don't have a ticket. Now, step aside, please."

The Doctor adamantly brandished the psychic paper at the attendant by the door. "Look, I have a ticket. See?"

The attendant sniffed. "I don't know how you acquired that, _sir_, but it certainly wasn't through legal means." The Doctor looked affronted; the attendant continued, unswayed. "The only tickets available are those through the chip and PIN system, and even then, only with fingerprint recognition. Now, will you please step away before I call the authorities. I have paying visitors to attend to."

"So much for that," the Doctor huffed to Rose when he joined her by the snack counter. He caught a smirk from her. "What?"

She rolled her eyes petulantly. "Never send a man to do a woman's job."

"You what?" he retorted as though he thought she had gone completely bonkers.

Rose just grinned. Then she pinched the psychic paper from his hand, much to his dismay, winked, and sashayed over to the assistant. The Doctor looked on, drumming his fingers on the counter but secretly quite impressed.

"Hi," Rose said silkily to the attendant and, for good measure, offered him a flirtatious smile. His attention immediately became fixed. "Listen, can I talk to you for a second?"

She took the attendant over to one side so that he faced away from the Doctor, but almost completely hid her from his view. The Doctor listened in vain, trying to catch snippets of their quiet conversation. The attendant glanced over his shoulder, towards him, and the Doctor gave a merry wave and a curt smile. Rose's hand snaked to the attendant's arm, who then turned back, and he heard her laugh bubble around them.

His face hardened; this was getting them nowhere.

Then, astonishingly, the attendant waved him over and opened the glass doors that led into the museum beyond. Rose thanked him and gave him a winning smile, before walking with the Doctor over the threshold and into the exhibit. Their shoes echoed on the marble floor while they walked, the sound reverberating around the grand walls and stony pillars.

"Do I even want to know where you learned that?" the Doctor asked once they were out of earshot.

Rose handed him back the psychic paper with a cheeky smile. She sighed nonchalantly, and said, "Was easy. The psychic paper did most of the work, and besides ...it's a man's world, Doctor."

He scoffed. "It most certainly is not. Men don't stand a chance."

"And that's supposed to mean what, exactly?"

He didn't answer. Instead he frowned and paced over to one of the displays. It showed a cold Arctic scene, with powdery snow leading up to the water's edge. And sitting quite contentedly in the snow was a perfect ice polar bear and her offspring. Had they not been made of ice, the Doctor would have sworn they looked to be in mid-movement.

He squinted at the figurines, protected from public disruption by a sheet of strong glass. Rose joined him and looked at the show intently.

"How comes they don't melt?" she asked, staring at them.

"Dunno." The Doctor shrugged, then frowned down to his companion. "What makes you think they don't melt?"

She tapped a plaque that had been secured onto the glass.

"Says it here," she explained. "Says it's a new type of ice, one that withstands the Earth's atmospheric pressure. And that there's this mysterious guy up in the North who sculpts them. Nobody knows his name." She looked up and grinned at the Doctor, nudging him in the ribs. "You sure you aren't living a double life?"

He nudged her right back. "Positive. And if I was, you'd be the first to know. Now then," he turned back to the exhibit, "this is a bit weird. Ice that doesn't melt? Impossible."

Rose wandered over to some of the other displays and smiled at a couple she passed. They smiled back.

"So you don't believe what it says, then?" she called back to the Doctor, stopping to look at an icy fawn in a wood.

"Nope. You really can't change the molecular structure of water 'cause if you did ...well ...it wouldn't be water any more."

It sounded quite reasonable, but Rose wasn't about to argue with the Doctor's explanations anyway. He usually made sure she was to baffled to even ask questions.

"So, what, then?"

He turned away from the polar bear and they continued to walk on.

"It's not just ice, that's for sure."

"Alien?" Rose wondered.

The Doctor just shrugged. "I don't know. Might be. Seems a bit pointless, though – what would an alien want to turn things into ice for?"

They walked past another exhibit, this one with an ice-bird perched on a railing.

Rose gave it a hard look and teased her bottom lip between her teeth. It looked, just as the others did, unbelievably real. "When you say 'turn things into ice'..."

"I mean that these things were once living and breathing, yes, Rose."

"But how? How do you know?"

He stopped and squinted at another of the plaques. "I don't. But I'd bet my life that these aren't sculptures. They're too precise. Wouldn't be able to give a definite answer unless we got a closer look, though. One thing's for sure: whatever the reason behind this is, it's probably not good."

"Never is," Rose sighed. She gave a sympathetic look to the bird. "Poor thing."

The Doctor glanced at her and touched her hand with his. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out," he assured. "And then well put everything to rights again. Promise."

She smiled at him, appreciating the gesture. She then had a thought.

"Doctor, we still don't know when we are. I mean, who's to say we're not just years in the future, where they've _got_ ice that doesn't melt?"

"I am," he answered simply, walking on. "It doesn't feel that far out from your time. Now that I've had a chance to adjust, I'd call it four or five years, maybe. And I'm telling you, humans don't have ice that doesn't melt. Not at this time."

"Oh my God, that's so weird." Rose stopped suddenly, thinking. The Doctor looked at her. "It's, like, a couple of years, yeah? That means that my Mum's here, and Mickey. And Shareen! They're walking around here continuing on with their lives."

"Well," the Doctor shrugged, "unless one of them's had an unfortunate incident with a bus."

"Doctor!" Rose admonished with a surprised glare.

"I'm just saying. But yes, you're right, they're here and so are you, and that means that no matter what happens, you can't see them. It'll mess up the timeline."

"And it'll cause, like, this massive time paradox, right?" she guessed proudly.

"Hmm. More like a time burp."

Rose blinked at him. "Forget I asked."

He smiled winningly at her and they carried on walking.. The museum was fairly full: people of all ages and types were wandering around, looking at the ice sculptures and awe. Rose tried to imagine how she would react without the Doctor's knowledge that this wasn't right, and that something alien might well be happening. She would probably be wary, at best. It made her all the more thankful to have him around.

Or not, as right at this moment he seemed to have wandered off on his own tangent.

"Doctor?" she questioned, finding him standing before an exhibit re-creating an underwater scene.

"Rose, take a look a this one."

She did as she was told and noticed something very quickly.

"It's empty."

"Yup."

"Why's it empty?"

He frowned, perplexed. "Don't know. Maybe it melted."

Rose grinned, then turned around and addressed a guard who was ambling around the museum.

"'Scuse me?" She waved him over. "Why is this one empty?"

The guard eyed the pair suspiciously. "The figure is still in storage," he said slowly, glancing from one to the other. "It has yet to be added... Why?"

"We're from maintenance," the Doctor said quickly before Rose could continue. "We're here to check up on everything and make sure it's running Yankee-doodle."

The guard looked startled.

"Don't mind him," Rose murmured. "He gets a bit excited about this stuff."

"If you _are_ from maintenance," the guard replied sceptically, "I need to see your – "

The Doctor flashed him the psychic paper before he could finish.

"Oh. Yes, of course, Doctor Smith," the guard amended quickly, fumbling for his keys. "They'll need you down in labour, I imagine, if you're to pick up a new specimen. It's through that door just over there, I've got the key..."

"Yup," the Doctor muttered quietly to Rose as the guard walked off. He patted the paper proudly. "I've still got it."

She had to stifle a snort, and instead asked, "Who did he think we were?"

"Doctor John Smith and his – ha, get this – 'supervised trainee', Rose Tyler. Apparently." He looked up and smirked. "You're shadowing me a couple of weeks for your degree. You have to do everything I say."

She folded her arms sulkily. "What's your degree in, then, _Doctor_?"

"Marine biology. As if."

"Doctor Smith," the guard called from half way across the room. "Miss Tyler, it's just through here."

The Doctor walked over and unceremoniously plucked the keys from the guard's hand, who had already opened the door for them.

"Thanks." He jingled the keys then held his hand out to Rose. "We'll be going, then."

"But you need my assistance – "

"Nah, we're fine. Aren't we, Rose?"

He looked at her.

"Yeah." She nodded. "We're fine."

"But," the guard protested, "you have my – "

"See ya."

The Doctor ginned, pulled Rose across the threshold and shut the door behind them. They were instantly thrown into total darkness, as though there had just been a sudden power cut. Rose thought the least this place could do would be to provide light bulbs.

They started to walk, despite the fact it was impossible to see a hand in front of their faces.

"He's gonna know we're not from maintenance," Rose pointed out after a few moments.

"Probably," the Doctor agreed. "But there's a locked door between him and us, and we've got the credentials to prove who we are. And his keys."

She could hear the smile in his voice.

"It's so _dark_," she complained, sure that she almost stubbed her toe on something. "I can't see a thing."

"You'll adjust," the Doctor said, pulling her by the hand. "Come on."

It was weird being able to feel his hand and hear his words but not seeing him. The kind of weird that made her uncomfortable; especially when he took his hand out of hers.

"Hello," he said interestedly as his voice got further away from her. He had obviously found something further up the corridor. "What's that?"

Something gave a dull click, and then a beat of silence followed.

"What's what?" Rose asked uncertainly, feeling suddenly nervous. "Doctor?" She was rewarded with more silence. "Doctor!"

There was no answer; the Doctor had vanished.


End file.
